Knowledgebase

This is the simplest process, you only need to click the Activate via Internet button, as seen in the Dialog above.

To make this dialog appear, click the activate license key button in the banner shown within your Editor.

The product will then connect to our servers, and begin the authentication process. A few short moments later, you should see a success message, and the banner will disappear.

Our products will periodically check with the server to ensure that you have not disassociated or blocked this device from being allowed to use the license.​​​​​​

If you experience any trouble with this process, please review the Possible Error Messages section below, and then contact support@pdf-xchange.com if your issue is not explained there.

This method is designed to be used for devices which are disconnected from the internet, as they will fail the online authentication that occurs periodically.

To begin the process, click the Activate manually (Offline) button presented in the Dialog at the top of the article. You will then see this dialog:

Carefully follow the steps detailed in this dialog. First you will need to save a file to a portable drive, then bring that file to a device which has an Internet connection, and sign into your Account Page.

On your account page, Locate the Activate Serial key tab, on the left:

Then click Upload File button to exchange your "Activation.request" file, for an "Activation.response" file that you will use in step 3.

There are some changes to the Account page to note.

In particular, the addition of the Activate serial key tab, for offline activations (shown in the offline activation section above), as well as the new Activation List function offered on the Your Products & Serial Keys tab:

Clicking this button will allow you to view license key activations, the date they were activated, and the name of the device this activation is related to.

You will also be able to "Deregister" or "Block", any devices you wish from the list. To do so, simply check the box beside the device(s) in question, and click Deregister or Block.

Blocking will prevent the device from being re-registered in the future. Be extremely careful with this, as you cannot unblock a device on your own once it has been blocked. You will need to contact PDF Xchange Support detailing why the device was blocked, why you want it unblocked, and possibly provide proof of purchase for us to assist.

Deregistering will simply prevent the device from automatically re-authenticating, and is useful in cases where you want to may re-register the device in the future.

Note that devices will periodically check to ensure they allowed to be "active" on a device. If you remove a device from this list, or block it, and someone continues to use your key on that device, they will lose the ability to use licensed features.

Key does not exist

Most likely an incorrectly entered key string, common If you have tried to type in your license key. Keys can be more than 300 characters long, and typographical errors are possible. In such a situation, you will see this error message:

When this happens, please close the dialog, and then return to your User Account. From your account page, use the "copy to Clipboard" button for the key in question, and then return to the Editor. From the Editor, click "help > license key > add new..." and paste the key you have copied with Ctrl+V.

Activations Exceeded

When this happens, it indicates that you have installed the software on more devices than is allowed by your license. When you hold a single user license, you may use the license on one desktop and one of the following - either a laptop or Tablet - providing always that you are the primary user of both. Larger volumes follow the same pattern, but devices can be freely shared by all users covered under the same key. EG. A 3 user license, could be installed on 3 Desktops and 3 laptop or tablet devices, in total, provided that those same 3 users are the primary users of all 6 devices.

If you have additional devices or users you need to cover, you will either need to purchase a larger volume (automatically blocking your old keys) or remove some of your old devices (detailed in the "De-registration of devices" section above).

Other Errors

If an error message you encounter is not in this list, please Email support@pdf-xchange.com with a screenshot of the specific message you are seeing. You can take a screenshot on any Windows 10 device with Shift+Win+S.